Royal Purple

As promised earlier I'll relay my observations on the Riverside minute's silence. Things were actually fairly good. Pretty much everyone was nice and respectful, and the minute's silence was silent bar the odd mobile phone accidentally going off. It wasn't a packed stadium, so it wasn't especially dramatic, but it was fitting and appropriate.

Afterwards they played 'God Save the King' and plenty sung along. I didn't sing - partly because the people around me weren't singing (I'm most definitely not a ringleader when it comes to singing at football matches), but also partly because it felt like too much. Weirdly the thought of my mam turning on the TV and seeing me singing was what swung it.

On my mam's side of the family they're most definitely republican. I'm often regaled with the story of how my nanna came and dragged my mam away from a school trip after it was found they were going to line the streets for a visiting royal. Likewise I've often heard how my uncle used to write in brackets on his tax returns, "I don't want any of this going to the royal family".

So coming out in support of constitutional monarchy I feel a bit like I did when I voted Conservative for the first time. Like I'm going against tradition. In footballing terms it's like I've decided to suddenly become a Sunderland fan after all these years.

So moderation was the order of the evening.

A few pictures. The first I took this evening on the way home showing Middlesbrough library lit in purple. The second from yesterday showing the museum. The museum looks ominous at the best of times.

Book Burning

I was also thinking today that it's time to stop posting on here daily. I really enjoy doing it, but it's taking up too much time. I really want to start properly storyboarding the part II of my fiction. I'm off work on holiday this week but I've already burned through Sunday, Monday and Tuesday and got very little done. So I need to prioritise my screen time - there's only so much time you can spend eye-balling a laptop screen before your zest goes.

Again, I like posting here, but I'm just being lazy and posting whatever springs to mind most of the time. Plus it's giving me an excuse to put off doing the writing that actually takes some mental effort.

In the few months I've been posting regularly I've covered the new prime minister and the passing of the Queen, so I think I've managed to catch the important things. Though I've always said that the death of the Queen would be the starting pistol for all of Britain's enemies, so maybe things are only just beginning (hopefully that was just overdramatization on my part).

I'll still post intermittently as before, and if freeze-ageddon happens I'll click back into gear. Then again, saying that, it might be better to just crack on with my novel by candlelight if that happens.

I have bought the candles just in case.